Current Lab Members
Hee Won Yang
Heewon has been an Assistant Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center since 2019. He earned his PhD from KAIST and completed his postdoctoral training with Dr. Tobias Meyer at Stanford University. Outside the lab, Heewon is an avid marathon runner and can often be found logging miles throughout New York City.
Contact: hy2602@cumc.columbia.edu
Principal Investigator, PhD
Suyeon is a postdoctoral research scientist. She earned her PhD in Biomedical Science from Korea University in South Korea. Her research focuses on understanding how cancer cells adapt to therapeutic pressure and evade anti-tumor immune responses, with the goal of identifying mechanisms of resistance to anti-cancer therapies. She is a recipient of the Korea NRF Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2024 and the ACS Postdoctoral Fellowship for 2026–2029. In her free time, she enjoys biking, cooking, discovering new restaurants, and traveling.
Contact: sk5455@cumc.columbia.edu
Postoctoral Fellow, PhD (NRF and ACS fellowship)
Suyeon Kim
Daseuli is a visiting postdoctoral research scientist from KAIST. Her research focuses on developing optogenetics-based systems for the synthetic control of protein and mRNA activity to modulate cellular signaling pathways. As a visiting scholar, Dr. Yu aims to investigate cell-cycle regulatory mechanisms in cancer cells, contribute to a deeper understanding of cell proliferation control, and explore potential therapeutic insights.
Postoctoral Fellow, PhD (NRF fellowship)
Daseuli Yu
Amanda Leone
Amanda graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in Biological Sciences. She joined the Yang Lab in April 2025 as a graduate student in the Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Studies Program. During her PhD, she looks forward to investigating the mechanisms of whole-genome duplication and cell-cycle surveillance.
Contact: agl2149@cumc.columbia.edu
PhD Student
Amanda Prashad
Amanda graduated from Barnard College in May 2026 with a B.A. in Biochemistry and a minor in Science and Public Policy. With a strong interest in cancer biology, she spent two summers in Dr. Sara Zaccara's Lab at CUIMC studying N6-methyladenosine (m⁶A) RNA modification. To expand her research experience, she joined the Yang Lab in 2024 and assisted with investigating how polyploid cancer cells tolerate replication stress following whole-genome duplication. She will be continuing in the Yang Lab as a post-baccalaureate research technician and hopes to later pursue a PhD further exploring chemical and genetic regulation in cancer.
Contact: ap4307@cumc.columbia.edu
Postbaccalaureate Researcher
Isidro Guadarrama Rea
Isidro joined the Yang Lab in 2024 and is currently a senior pursuing a major in biochemistry at Columbia University. His research efforts have focused on understanding how cancers respond and adapt to targeted therapies in NRAS-mutant melanoma and KRAS-mutant lung cancer. Through this work, he has developed an interest in the complex ways tumors evolve under therapeutic pressure. In his free time, you can find him exploring a new part of the city or riding a bike through Central Park.
Contact: ig2504@cumc.columbia.edu
Undergraduate Reseracher
Former Lab Members
Sungsoo Kim, 2020–2026, Postdoctoral Researcher; Current Position: Assistant Professor, Ewha University, Korea
Jessica Armand, 2021–2025, PhD Student; Current Position: Science Liaison, Causaly (AI biotech)
Kibum Kim, 2023–2025, Postdoctoral Researcher; Current Position: Research Fellow, University of Michigan
Eugene Son, 2023–2025, Postbaccalaureate Researcher; Current Position: PhD Student, Columbia University
Mimi Zhang, 2021–2024, Postbaccalaureate Researcher; Current Position: PhD Student, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Anusha Shanabag, 2024, Master Student; Current Position: Strategy & Insights, ZS Associates
Caitlin O'Neil, 2021–2023, Undergraduate Student
Kaitlin Abrantes, 2020–2021, Undergraduate Student; Current Position: PhD Student, Weill Cornell Medicine